Dr. George V. Pinchuk, associate professor of biology, was recently named Faculty Member of the Year at Mississippi University for Women.
MUW”s Mortar Board Honor Society and Alumni Association co-sponsor the award. Nominations were accepted from students, and the faculty member with the most votes was selected for this honor.
Born and raised in Ukraine, Pinchuk graduated from Kiev Medical School in 1981 and went on to complete an M.D./Ph.D program in medical genetics at the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. After being invited to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California in 1990, he taught at Mississippi State University from 1998-2004. Since 2004, he has been at MUW.
Pinchuk said, “I really love my job. I was never trained as a teacher, only a researcher-experimenter. But, now I feel that to share knowledge with the younger generation, to explain biological science to young people is my true calling in life.”
He attributes his success to the help and guidance of Dr. Dorothy Kerzel, department chair and professor in the department of sciences and mathematics; Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer, professor of mathematics; Dr. Linda Mahoney, assistant professor of education and all of his colleagues.
When asked how it felt to be nominated by his students, Pinchuk added, “It feels amazing. I know that the subjects that I teach are not the easiest for many students, and sometimes I am afraid, almost desperate, that I am boring them. A few times, I even had some students literally cry because, as they put it, ”it”s just beyond me to sort out all these microbes.” So, I am most pleasantly surprised that students appreciate my teaching so much. I will try my best to be a good teacher in the future.”
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